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67 WINWICK

(OS 1: 10000a SP 67 SW, b SP 67 NW)

The parish covers about 840 hectares and lies across the
valley of a small N.W.-flowing stream which also forms
part of the S. boundary. From this central valley, at about
130 m. above OD, the land rises steeply over Lias clays, to
a maximum of 168 m. in the S.W. and 190 m. in the N.E.,
across a rolling landscape drained by several small streams.
Much of the area is covered by expanses of Boulder Clay as
well as glacial sands and gravels. The major monument is
the now almost totally deserted village of Winwick (1), the
remains of which extend along the central valley.

Medieval and Later

a(1) Settlement remains (centred SP 627737; Figs. 147
and 148; Plate 14), formerly part of the village of
Winwick, extend for almost 1 km. along the valley of the
small N.W.-flowing stream beside which the tiny modern
village still stands. The earthworks are on Upper and
Middle Lias Clay and alluvium, between 125 m. and
145 m. above OD. The village is listed in Domesday Book
with a recorded population of 31 (VCH Northants., I (1902),
316, 320, 339, 350, 380). No further details of population
are known until the 17th century when 25 people paid the
Hearth Tax of 1673 (PRO, E179/254/14), and it is
impossible to say whether the extensive remains represent
the maximum expansion of the village at any one time or
are the result of changes in location or layout over a long
period. The latter seems more likely for some of the
earthworks in the N.W. have been overploughed with
ridge-and-furrow but others, in the S.E., survive as
sharply defined features. The village therefore appears to
have moved gradually upstream. All these changes had
taken place before 1839; the Tithe Map of that date (NRO;
Fig. 148) shows the village almost as it is today.

Fig. 147 Winwick (1) Settlement remains

Fig. 148 Winwick
(1) Plan of village in 1839 (from Tithe Map in NRO)

At the N.W. end of the site are the remains of a small
moated enclosure ('a' on plan) consisting of an island about
40 m. across surrounded by a shallow ditch now less than
1 m. deep. The whole has been overploughed with ridge-and-furrow. S.E. of the moat, still on the S.W. of the
stream, is a group of at least three long closes ('b' on plan)
with house-sites at their N.E. ends. The closes are sub-divided by low scarps and are bounded by scarps and
ditches. The whole area, excluding the house-sites, is
covered by later ridge-and-furrow. A wide hollow-way,
said locally once to have formed the main approach to the
manor house on the other side of the valley, separates these
closes from a group of smaller and more sharply defined
enclosures ('c' on plan), some of which are embanked as
well as ditched. The modern road cuts across the S. corner
of this area and probably replaced an earlier route which
survives as a hollow-way continuing W. on the general
line of the lane as the latter leaves the village. To the S.W.
of the lane ('d' on plan) are further closes. These have not
been ploughed in ridge-and-furrow but the S. part has
now been almost completely destroyed by modern
ploughing. On the E. side of the stream, and of the axial
road which follows it, is a row of at least seven closes
containing house-sites ('e' on plan). These are very well
preserved and fragments of post-medieval pottery have
been found on them. On the higher ground behind the
existing cottages is a further group of ditched and scarped
enclosures ('f' on plan). These are bounded on the S.E. by a
lane, which continued as a hollow-way across the field to
the E., and on the N.W. by a wide hollow-way which
runs along the S. side of the large mound on which the
church of St. Michael is situated. Two parallel ditches
N.W. of the church may define the original driveway to
the hall (RAF VAP 541/15, 4383–5; CUAP, AGV14–16, AKP65,
AWQ12, 13, XL62, 63).

(2) Cultivation remains. The common fields of the
parish were finally enclosed following an Act of Parliament
of 1794 but at least part of it was enclosed by 1652. Much
of the ridge-and-furrow of these fields has been destroyed
particularly in the W. of the parish where only a few
furlongs remain, but around and to the N. of the village the
layout is recoverable either on the ground or from air
photographs. It is arranged in end-on and interlocked
furlongs in response to the direction of slope. Behind the
empty closes of the deserted village the ridges all run up the
slope to the higher ground. It is noteworthy that large parts
of the village have been overploughed by later ridge-and-furrow (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1994, 2468–71; 541/15, 4380–8).